Angelo State University

Angelo State University's Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and Norris-Vincent College of Business have announced the winners of the 2025 BizPitch student entrepreneurship competition following the recent live finals event in the LeGrand Alumni and Visitors Center. The BizPitch competition began in January when individual ASU students or teams of up to four students were invited to submit video pitches of their ideas for new business startups. A panel of ASU business faculty and SBDC specialists selected five finalists to make live pitch presentations to a panel of judges made up of local business professionals. More details are available at angelo.edu/news.

Representatives of Angelo State University's student-run Ram Media outlets brought home several top awards from the recent Texas Intercollegiate Press Association (TIPA) Convention in San Marcos. The TIPA journalism/media competition consists of two parts - the Annual Contest that solicits submission of entries previously published or broadcast in the past academic year, and the Live Contests that take place between students attending the convention. In the Annual Contest against entries from other mid-size, four-year universities, Angelo State's Ram TV took first place in the Video Newscast category. In the Live Contests against students from institutions of all sizes, ASU students on the staff of Ram TV and/or the Ram Page digital newspaper won the following awards: Katie Scholl of Lubbock - 1st Place in Live TV Announcing Millie Switzer of Bentonville, Ariz. - 2nd Place in Live Press Release Writing Anaomy Somoll of Phnom Penh, Cambodia - 3rd Place in Live Print Advertising Scholl and Switzer are mass media majors, and Somoll is a computer science major. Ram Media consists of the Ram TV television station that broadcasts locally on Optimum Cable Channel 6, the Ram Page digital newspaper and the Ram Radio internet radio station, as well as Ram TV Sports that broadcasts live ASU intercollegiate sports on the FloSports Network. See more details at angelo.edu/news.

The Angelo State University Handball Club defended its title to win the 2025 Doug Randolph Cup competition held this year at Lubbock Christian University. The Doug Randolph Cup competition debuted at the 2024 Aggieland Classic tournament in College Station, and the ASU Handball Club has won it both years. It featured a round-robin format with the ASU team facing off in head-to-head matchups against teams from the University of Texas, Texas A&M University and Missouri State University. Each head-to-head contest consisted of one women's singles match, one men's singles match, one women's doubles match and two men's doubles matches - with each match consisting of two games to 15 points. As such, 30 points were available in each match, with a total of 150 points available in each head-to-head contest. The team with the highest points total after its three head-to-head contests was declared the Doug Randolph Cup champion. The final standings were: 1st Place: Angelo State - 364 points 2nd Place: Missouri State - 349 points 3rd Place: Texas A&M - 344 points 4th Place: Texas - 190 points Individually for ASU: Taigan Rivers went 3-0 in women's singles (90 points) Jacob Mitchell & Dylan Whitley went 3-0 in men's doubles (90 points) Kinzi Jo Leon & Joanna Pauline Gato went 3-0 in women's doubles (90 points) Israel Lopez Jr. & Cade Whitley/Will Jost went 1-2 in men's doubles (54 points) Austin Colwell went 0-3 in men's singles (40 points) The ASU Handball Club is coached by Aoife Holden and Diarmuid Mulkerrins, graduate students in the coaching, sport, recreation and fitness administration program. See more details at angelo.edu/news.

Six members of the Angelo State University Handball Club brought home gold and silver medals from the 72nd U.S. Handball Association (USHA) National Collegiate Championships held recently in Portland, Oregon. For the ASU women's team, Kelly Salisbury, an interdisciplinary studies major from San Angelo, won the Gold Medal in the Women's C Singles Division. She then teamed with her twin sister, Kimberly Hostetter, an agricultural science and leadership major, to win the Gold Medal in the Women's C Doubles Division. Taigan Rivers, an exercise science major from San Angelo, and Kinzi Jo Leon, an animal science major from Austin, won the Gold Medal in the Women's B Doubles Division. For the ASU men's team, Cade Whitley, a border and homeland security major from Tioga, won the Silver Medal in the Men's B3 Singles Division. Logan Leto, a biology major from San Angelo, won the Silver Medal in the Men's C1 Singles Division. Additionally, Leon won the Women's Most Improved Player Award, and Salisbury earned the Women's Spirit of Handball Award for her competitiveness, sportsmanship and team spirit. Competing against teams from 30 universities in the U.S., Canada and Ireland, the ASU Handball Club finished third in the Combined Open Division, with the ASU women's team taking third place in the Women's Open Division and the ASU men's team placing fourth in the Men's Open Division. See more details at angelo.edu/news.

The Angelo State University Agriculture Department's student Wool Judging Team brought home the gold medal from the 2025 San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo Collegiate Wool Judging Contest held Feb. 8 in San Antonio. ASU sent two four-person teams to the contest to compete against eight other teams from Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University and West Texas A&M University. The ASU Blue Team scored 2,370 points to claim the team title over a team from Texas A&M (2,359 points) and a team from West Texas A&M (2,358 points), with the ASU Gold Team placing fourth overall (2,312 points). Individually for the ASU Blue Team, James "Carter" Glass, a natural resource management major from Sterling City, placed second overall out of 58 competitors. Hudson Felts, an agribusiness major from San Angelo, and Shalyn Crimm, an accounting major from San Angelo, tied for fourth place. Janna Arnold, a health science professions major from Cisco, tied for ninth place overall to lead the ASU Gold Team. Also competing for ASU were Kasey Arnold, an animal science major from Cisco; Isabella Celaya, an animal science major from San Antonio; and Riley Titsworth, an agribusiness major from Comfort. The ASU Wool Judging Team is coached by Dr. James "Will" Dickison, associate professor of agriculture, along with student coach Cade Thomas, an animal science major from San Angelo. See more details at angelo.edu/news.

Six Angelo State University students earned cash prizes for their new business start-up pitches in the 2024 BizPitch student entrepreneurship contest sponsored by ASU's Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and Norris-Vincent College of Business. The BizPitch competition began in January when individual ASU students or teams of up to four students were invited to submit video pitches of their ideas for new business startups. A panel of ASU business faculty and SBDC specialists selected five finalists to make live pitch presentations to a panel of judges made up of local business professionals. More details are available at angelo.edu/news.

The Angelo State University Handball Club brought home three national titles and a host of other medals from the recent 71st U.S. Handball Association (USHA) National Collegiate Championships at the University of Minnesota. The ASU women's team took first place in the Women's A Division with 2,060 points to win the national championship ahead of runner-up Utah State University (1,392 points). The ASU men's team took fourth place in the Men's A Division - and their combined total of 3,816 points propelled the ASU Handball Club to the overall A Division national championship. In individual competition, ASU's doubles team of Israel Lopez Jr. and Austin Colwell, both of San Angelo, won the national title in the Men's B Doubles Division. Colwell also won the Silver Medal in the Men's B Singles Division, and his teammate, Cade Whitley of Tioga, won the Silver Medal in the Men's C4 Singles Division. For the ASU women's team, Taigan Rivers of San Angelo won the Silver Medal in the Women's B Singles Division, and Kinzi Jo Leon of San Angelo won the Silver Medal in the Women's C Singles Division. Twin sisters Kelly and Kimberly Salisbury of San Angelo won the Silver Medal in the Women's C Doubles Division. See more details and a complete list of team members at angelo.edu/news.

Twelve members of the Angelo State University Rams Clay Target Team brought home a host of individual and team medals from the recent ACUI/SCTP Lower Midwest Super Shoot competition at the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio. In the Ladies Division, ASU's Kennison Thomason, a junior from Flower Mound, won the Gold Medal in Sporting Clays and took second in Doubles Skeet, finishing third in the High Over All standings. In the Men's Division, ASU's Samuel Davis, a freshman from Corpus Christi, won the Gold Medal in American Skeet. In the team competition, contingents of Rams Clay Target Team shooters placed in the top three in five of the six contests to finish fourth in the Team High Over All standings. ASU's top placings included runner-up finishes in Sporting Clays and Doubles Trap, and third-place finishes in Doubles Skeet, American Skeet and Super Sporting. Sponsored by the Association of College Unions International (ACUI) and the Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP), the competition featured over 200 competitors representing 16 colleges and universities in six states. See more details at angelo.edu/news.

Trey Hughes of Christoval, a team roper on the Angelo State University Rodeo Team, has qualified to compete in the 2024 College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) June 9-15 in Casper, Wyoming, after posting a strong finish to the ASU team's inaugural season on the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) circuit. In team roping, only the top three "header" ropers and "heeler" ropers from each NIRA region qualify for the CNFR. Hughes, an interdisciplinary studies major, finished third overall in the Team Roping Header standings for the NIRA Southwest Region to book his spot in the finals. For the first half of the season, Hughes' top finish was ninth at the Sul Ross State University rodeo event in September 2023. But he flourished during the final three rodeo events in April, taking first place at the Howard County Junior College event and finishing second at the Western Texas College and Tarleton State University events. See more details at angelo.edu/news.

Two Angelo State University political science students earned individual awards for their performances at the recent 27th annual Eugene Scassa Mock Organization of American States (ESMOAS) Collegiate Summit of the Americas Conference at Baylor University. ESMOAS is an academic parliamentary debate program that brings together the nation's best and brightest college students to debate the issues facing the nations in North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean that are members of the Organization of America States (OAS). Student teams represent delegations from those nations and must prepare, debate and approve resolutions and respond to hypothetical crises regarding the respective foreign policies. Angelo State's team represented Panama during the ESMOAS Summit of the Americas Competition. Hanne Campbell of Boise, Idaho, earned the Recognized Crisis Response Head of State Address Award for leading the ASU team in developing Panama's response to a crisis and navigating the frenetic negotiations with other countries in the span of one hour. Also for ASU, Isabela Casillas of San Angelo earned a Recognized Delegate Award for her committee work in the Secretariat for Integral and Sustainable Development. See more details at angelo.edu/news.

Angelo State University's Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and Norris-Vincent College of Business have announced the winners of the 2023 BizPitch student entrepreneurship competition following the recent live finals event in the LeGrand Alumni and Visitors Center. The BizPitch competition began in January when individual ASU students or teams of up to four students were invited to submit video pitches of their ideas for new business startups. A panel of ASU business faculty and SBDC specialists selected five finalists to make live pitch presentations to a panel of judges made up of local business professionals. Competing for cash prizes, the finalists each made eight-minute live presentations to the judges and answered judges' questions during the finals event. The cash prizes are for the winners to use as seed money for their new ventures. See more details and a complete list of the winners at angelo.edu/news.

Angelo State University's Ram Powerlifting Club brought home three awards, including one national championship, from the 2023 U.S.A. Powerlifting Collegiate National Meet in Arlington. Melissa Nunez of Monahans won the Gold Medal in the 97-pound weight class of the Women's Collegiate Raw contest to earn a national title for ASU. Natalie Walker of Greenville took third place in the Women's Collegiate Raw 105-pound weight class - and the Ram Powerlifting women's team placed fourth overall in the team competition. Also contributing to the fourth-place team medal were Marissa Nunez of Monahans, Annabelle Butts of Lubbock, Emily Ramos of Poteet, Kira Palmer of San Augustine and Kylie Bliton of Florence. See more details at angelo.edu/news.

The Angelo State University Angelettes dance team won a national championship and had two other top placings at the recent ADTS American Dance Collegiate Nationals competition at the University of North Texas in Denton. The 12-member ASU Angelettes took first place in the Collegiate Division II Hip Hop competition to win the national championship. They also finished as second runner up in the Collegiate D-II Jazz competition and in the Collegiate D-II Overall standings. They posted the highest scores in team history on their way to winning the team's first-ever national title. See more details and a list of team members at angelo.edu/news.

Angelo State University intramural flag football teams, including the inaugural unified team of ASU students and Special Olympics athletes, posted two top-four placings at the 2023 NIRSA National Flag Football Tournament held Jan. 6-8 in Round Rock. In the Unified Division, ASU's The Untouchables fell just short of playing for a national championship, losing in the semifinals to a team from the University of Florida, 32-26. Along the way, they won their pool by defeating teams from Colorado State University and the University of Wisconsin, and followed that up with another win over CSU to advance to the semifinals. William Gilmore of San Angelo, a Special Olympics (SO) athlete on The Untouchables, was named an All-American in the Unified Division representing ASU. In the Co-Rec Division, ASU's Troll Tide also advanced to the national semifinals, defeating teams from Georgia Southern University and the University of Maryland before dropping the return match with Georgia Southern, 13-12, in their semifinal. William Hollis of Brady was named a Co-Rec All-American for ASU. See more details at angelo.edu/news.

A team of Angelo State University political science students earned team and individual awards at the 26th annual Eugene Scassa Mock Organization of American States (ESMOAS) Collegiate Summit of the Americas Conference earlier this month at Baylor University. ESMOAS is an academic parliamentary debate program that brings together the nation's best and brightest college students to debate the issues facing the nations in North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean that are members of the Organization of America States (OAS). Student teams represent delegations from those nations. ASU team members were: Gabriela Avila of Robstown Jorge Fernandez of San Angelo Isabella Lawrence of Brownwood Maria Miranda of Arlington Ian Moreno of RobyAnge Nyantungane of Manor During the ESMOAS Summit of the Americas Competition, the ASU team won a Distinguished Team Position Paper Award representing the Dominican Republic - and Avila won an individual Distinguished Resolution Award for her policy resolution titled "Enhancing Women's Democratic Participation and Strengthening Women's Engagement in Civic Society." See more details at angelo.edu/news.

A two-student team representing Angelo State University's Bass Anglers Club has qualified to compete at the 2023 Major League Fishing (MLF) College Fishing National Championship next summer at a location to be announced. ASU team members Ty Smoot of Poteet and Robert Vance of San Angelo qualified for the national tournament field by placing in the top 10 at the MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI tournament held Nov. 11-14 at Lake of the Pines in northeast Texas. Smoot and Vance placed fourth out of 138 two-person teams representing over 35 colleges and universities from Texas and surrounding states. Their total five-bass catch weight was 17 pounds, 6 ounces - and their fourth-place finish also earned a $500 prize for the ASU Bass Anglers Club. See more details at angelo.edu/news.

Four members of Angelo State University's Ram Powerlifting Club finished in the top five in their respective contests, including one Gold Medalist and one national runner-up, at the U.S.A. Powerlifting Collegiate National Meet in Lombard, Illinois. Michael Vargas of Ozona won the Gold Medal in the 181-pound weight class of the Men's Collegiate Equipped contest to bring home a national title for ASU. Other top ASU finishers at the national meet, by category and weight class, were: Melissa Nunez of Monahans: 2nd Place, Women's Collegiate Equipped, 97 pounds Natalie Walker of Greenville: 3rd Place, Women's Collegiate Equipped, 114 pounds Britney George of Hawley: 4th Place, Women's Collegiate Equipped, 165 pounds Lifters complete three attempts each at squat, bench press and deadlift. The qualifying total is the sum of the highest weight lifted in each of the three disciplines. Vargas, the club president, posted a total sum weight of 1,697 pounds to win his Gold Medal. See more details at angelo.edu/news.

For the fifth straight year, the Angelo State University Cheer Team has won a national title at the United Spirit Association USA Collegiate Championships in Anaheim, Calif. ASU's 32-member co-ed Cheer Team won one national championship and also recorded one runner-up performance, two national third-place finishes and a fifth-place finish in the College Game Day division, including: First Place - College Situational Sideline Contest Second Place - Mascot Contest Third Place - College Fight Song Contest Third Place - College Band Chant Contest Fifth Place - Co-Ed Show Cheer Performance Routine The ASU Cheer Team previously won 2018 and 2019 national championships in the Show Cheer division, as well as 2020 and 2021 national championships in the College Game Day division. See more details and a complete list of team members at angelo.edu/news.

Angelo State University's Norris-Vincent College of Business and Small Business Development Center (SBDC) have announced the winners of the 2021 BizPitch student entrepreneurship competition. The BizPitch competition invites individual ASU students or teams of up to four students to submit video pitches of their ideas for new business startups. A panel of ASU business faculty and SBDC specialists selected five finalists to make live pitch presentations to a panel of judges made up of local business professionals. The winners are: First Place ($2,500) - Ram Lambs Day Care Brooklyn Gallaway of Winters & Kevin Sigala of Morse Second Place ($1,500) - Angelo Hydro & Grow John Mehosky of San Angelo Third Place ($1,000) - The Pawn Shop Landon Ward of San Angelo See the full story at angelo.edu/news.

The Angelo State University Cheer Team brought home a host of trophies, including one national title, from the College Classic National Invitational cheer competition held April 10-11 in Orlando, Fla. ASU's 25-member co-ed Cheer Team entered two Show Cheer routines and competed in Stunt Group and Mascot contests. Overcoming a last-minute injury, ASU posted the following results: First Place - Partner Stunt Second Place - Partner Stunt Second Place - Mascot Third Place - Co-Ed Show Cheer Fourth Place - Co-Ed Show Cheer Earlier this spring, the ASU Cheer Team also won multiple national titles at the United Spirit Association USA Collegiate Championships for the fourth straight year. See more details, including a full Cheer Team roster, at angelo.edu.

Alexis Washington of Porter, a freshman mathematics major at Angelo State University, won the Grand Prize in the inaugural Math4 Manufacturing student video contest conducted by the University of Texas Charles A. Dana Center. To compete in the contest, undergraduate students from colleges and universities around the state submitted short videos of themselves conducting a virtual interview with at least one manufacturing professional, concentrating on how they use mathematics in their work. Washington's interview subject was Lindsay Barnes, an executive at Wendland Manufacturing Corp. in San Angelo. For winning the Grand Prize, Washington has been awarded $5,000. See more details at angelo.edu/news.

Angelo State University's Rams Clay Target Team won a national championship in Sporting Clays and finished as overall national runner-up at the recent Association of College Unions International (ACUI) 2021 Collegiate Clay Target Championships in San Antonio. Competing in Division 2 against 11 other teams, the Rams Clay Target Team took first place in the Sporting Clays Team competition to be named the 2021 Sporting Clays Division 2 national champion. In the High Over All standings, ASU scored 1,388 total points in the various team competitions to finish second behind only the team from Martin Methodist College (Tennessee) that scored 1,397 points. See the full story at angelo.edu.

For the fourth straight year, the Angelo State University Cheer Team has won national titles at the United Spirit Association USA Collegiate Championships based in Anaheim, Calif. Events were conducted virtually this year with results announced March 22. ASU's 25-member co-ed Cheer Team won two national championships and recorded one national third-place finish in the Collegiate Game Day division, including: First Place - College Band Chant Contest First Place - College Situational Sideline/Crowd Leading Contest Third Place - College Fight Song Contest See the full story, including a list of team members, at angelo.edu.

The Angelo State University Agriculture Department's student Wool Judging Team took first place and ASU's Joleen Frost of San Angelo won the individual championship at the 2021 San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo Collegiate Wool Judging Contest on Feb. 26 in San Antonio. ASU sent two four-person teams to the contest to compete against 17 other teams from Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University and Tarleton State University. The ASU team made up of Frost, Hannah Berry of Schertz, Rebecca Law of Lockhart and Tally Patton of Silverton scored 2,097 points to take first place. This marks the third straight year and the fourth time in the last five years that an ASU team has won the San Antonio contest. The ASU team made up of Colbin Briley of Odonnell, Mayce Herrington of Colorado City, Jill Murray of Fort Worth and Hannah Vega of Artesia, N.M., finished in sixth place with 2,026 points. More details are available at angelo.edu.

A team of Angelo State University civil engineering students brought home several awards and qualified for a national contest after taking part in competitions at the American Society of Civil Engineers' Texas-Mexico Student Symposium March 4-7 in Arlington. The 10-member ASU "RAMgineers" competed in three contests at the symposium: the Surveying Competition, Blue Sky Competition and Concrete Bowling Competition. They took first place in the Surveying Competition, which qualified them for the national competition at the 2020 UESI Conference this summer in Indiana. They also won first- and third-place prizes for their innovative engineering proposal and poster presentation in the Blue Sky Competition. See all the details at angelo.edu.

For the third straight year, the Angelo State University Cheer Team has brought home national titles from the United Spirit Association USA Collegiate Championships in Anaheim, Calif. ASU's 25-member co-ed Cheer Team won two national championships and recorded one national runner-up finish in the Game Day events, including: First Place - Band Chant Contest First Place - Situational Sideline Contest Second Place - Fight Song Contest Alejandro Chavez of Colorado City also competed as ASU's costumed mascot, Bella, and placed third in the Mascot Contest. Read the full story on the ASU website at angelo.edu.

The Angelo State University Agriculture Department's student Wool Judging Team took first place and ASU's Jaelynn Page of Sweetwater won the individual championship at the 2020 San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo Collegiate Wool Judging Contest on Feb. 8. ASU sent two four-person teams to the contest to compete against 24 other teams from Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, Kansas State University, University of Wyoming and Colorado State University. The ASU team made up of Page, Zane Allen of Gail, Brittyn Walker of League City and Clayton Eckhardt of New Braunfels scored 2,094 points to take first place. The ASU team made up of Alyssa Cowan of Hermleigh, Hunter Redman of San Angelo, Alina Rangel of Liberty Hill and Sydney Routon of Katy finished in fourth place with 2,071 points. Read the full story at angelo.edu.

Five Angelo State University intramural flag football players and one student official have been named 2019 All-Americans for their performances at the NIRSA National Flag Football Championships held Jan. 3-5 in Round Rock, Texas. Taylor Hoelscher of San Angelo, Kenzi Huseman of Mineral Wells and Xavier Sanchez of Irving, players for ASU team "Roll Tide," were named All-Americans in the Co-Rec Division. Jacie Klose of Haskell, a player on ASU's "Vixen," made the Women's Division All-America Team. Ruben Jimenez of La Porte, a player for ASU team "Wolfpac" was named All-American in the Men's Division. ASU's Josh Hale of Abilene was named an All-American Official. More details are available on the NIRSA website.

A team of six Angelo State University civil engineering students is one of only eight teams nationwide that have been invited to compete in the American Society of Civil Engineers' (ASCE) Blue Sky Competition at the 2019 ASCE Student Conference June 6-8 in Melbourne, Fla. ASU RAMgineers team members include Sungjae "Andrew" An, Abner Arteaga, Nicholas Gillett, John Jefferies, Jiahao "L.J." Liang and Emma Reyes. Read the full story on the ASU website at angelo.edu.

Two teams representing Angelo State University's Bass Anglers Club have qualified to compete at the 2020 Yeti FLW College Fishing National Championship next summer at a location to be announced. The two ASU teams made it into the national tournament field by placing in the top 10 at the Yeti FLW College Fishing Southern Conference Tournament on Lake Texoma just north of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex earlier this month. Read the full story at angelo.edu.